Though turmoil, uncertainty and quite a bit of inconsistency has marked the Section III Class A boys lacrosse regular season, the two pillars – Fayetteville-Manlius and West Genesee – remain locked together, perhaps bound for another championship showdown.
At the very least, the Hornets face the Wildcats early next week with a lot at stake, in part due to the way both of them played in the lead-up to this latest showdown.
During Tuesday night’s action, just after WG got past Corcoran 10-6, F-M hosted Cicero-North Syracuse and, from start to finish, annihilated the state no. 17-ranked Northstars, prevailing by a score of 18-5.
Every F-M player remembered that C-NS had beaten them 9-6 on April 1 at Bragman Stadium. In particular, Pat Quinlan remembered that defeat, and as a face-off specialist, he was in a good position to do something about it right away.
On the game’s first draw, Quinlan took it, ran downfield and flung a shot that eluded Northstars goalie Bryan Schenk and found the net. The game was just 11 seconds old, and F-M had momentum that it would not relinquish.
Up 4-2 through one period, the Hornets really took over in the second quarter, blanking C-NS and extending its lead to 8-2. Not content with that, F-M put together a run of seven unanswered goals in the third quarter to put the Northstars away.
Better yet, F-M did this while its top scorer, Jack Wilson, managed just a single goal. Many others stepped up, including Casey Green, who had four goals and one assist, and Alex Leuze, who put together three goals and three assists.
John Cote scored twice, adding three assists, with Colton Oliver and Kevin Chase also netting a pair of goals. Wilson, Luke Krizman and Dylan Taylor-Wolford joined Quinlan with single goals as Chris Rettinger and John Stone had one assist apiece.
Meanwhile, Jake Pulver, back from illness, stabilized F-M’s defense, which stymied C-NS most of the night and protected goalies Brian Charlamb and Kyle Andrake, who combined for nine saves.
